Christmas

I'm sitting here the day after Christmas watching Polar Express for what seems like the 500th time.  Don't get me wrong I love this movie but even the DVD is getting tired of playing.  If you haven't guessed Little Man loves the movie of course it's because it has a train in it.  He loves everything trains Polar Express,  Thomas and Dinosaurs On A Train.  Yes there is a show called Dinosaurs On A  Train just look it up.  I know I laughed as well the first time.

We tried Little man with Santa again but no luck more screaming and running away, oh well maybe next year.  Christmas Eve we went to church driving through a snow storm to get there that night with little man dressed in one of his many Christmas outfits.   He quickly found his Grandpa Jim and brought him a book to read.  Little Man kept us all entertained during the service, I don't think we heard much of the service that night.  We drove home again through the snow, it reminded me of all the Christmas movies and the beautiful snow fall in them.  My ideal holiday season would start snowing a bit everyday from the day after Thanksgiving until Christmas and we just about had that this year.  I do have to admit it was nice putting Christmas lights up before the snow hit.

Christmas morning I awoke with the mission to clear the drive.  Our house sits on a hill so the drive up can be a bit treacherous with the snow.  Little Man's Grandpa Jim and Grandma Rose asked for a ride over to our house for Christmas day.  After clearing the drive I loaded up Little Man and off we drove in a Christmas wonderland of snow.  The snow was gorgeous as it glistened as we made our way over to their house.  When we arrived at their house they opened the door to reveal all the presents they had bought for him, it took a bit but we got them all loaded up and headed home.

Little Man began opening all of his gifts.  This year was great he got into ripping the paper off the gifts and even delivered gifts to everyone else.  I happily spent the evening putting together different toys with Little Man pitching in to help out.   I'm not sure what his favorite toy was for this year, he had fun playing with all of them.  

As I walked through the house this morning I got a feeling of what it must of felt like for my parents wondering what in the world to do with all the new toys that have entered the house.  We know have a pup tent, a rocking horse, a tricycle, a couple of trains and several books that we need to find homes for.  Little man did spend a good part of Christmas on the rocking horse in fact he almost fell asleep on it.  This morning I never thought I would ever stop pushing him on his tricycle and he did eventually take a nap in his pup tent.   

Once again Christmas has regained it's magic in our lives and as much as I would like to say it was the best Christmas I know that for years to come Christmas will again be magical in our household.  Merry Christmas.

Shopping

As always we are racing around trying to get ready for our Christmas party.  We went to the grocery store last night with a big list and little man.  It was late enough that his favorite race car shopping cart was sitting and waiting for him, not the broken one bu the one that still has a steering wheel.  Little Man went directly for his cart and hopped into the drivers seat and off we went.  We were not out of the produce section when Jynx suggested that he might want his own cart.  I had seen the carts before but never thought of them for Little Man.  Off Jynx went and returned with a little shopping cart and Little Man got out of the race car and behind the cart.  He has pushed the big shopping cart before but I had not seen him use his own little cart.  Little Man walked over to the produce and grabbed an artichoke and placed it in the cart, he then went back and grabbed a turnip placed it in the cart.  That was just about the funniest thing I've seen in a long time, I stood there in the grocery store laughing.  This continued for several aisles and other customers got a good laugh as well.  We did our best to put items back but sometimes we did not see it right away and it went back in a different place.  I'm sure some stock boy loved us the next day as he found ginger cookies in the toilet paper aisle. 

MSI

We made a promise that we would not decorate as much in order to spend more time this holiday with Little Man but, the boxes and boxes of decorations came up and out.  The village I set up did not go up but all the rest of the decorations made it up.  After spending more time than I wanted decorating and the house nearly finished; I decided to spend a day at the Museum of Science and Industry.  I wanted Little Man to see the huge train layout since he loves trains.  I've lost track (no pun intended) of how many times we've watched The Polar Express.

The next day we got Little Man up and ready to go but he did not eat much of his breakfast and even laid back down a few times.  We drove to the museum and entered to see the zephyr train and his eyes light up.  "DAT!" 
We went into the museum which has changed a bit since we were kids a few more things added and some things no longer there.  We started out tour but Little Man just did not seem the same, no smiles for the camera, no running around or his now famous "DAT!" 

As the day went on it was clear that Little Man was not feeling well but was doing his best to make it through the day.  We did go to the trains and he was excited to see them and watch the model trains.  We took him over to the train engine that he was able to sit in and play with all the knobs and levers. 
We then headed to see all the Christmas trees and he faded quickly.  He took a bit of a nap in his stroller and woke up to see the weather center and the tractors at the end.  I hope he had a good day but I felt bad for him not feeling well at all.  We got in the car and he fell asleep on the way home and did not want to eat much.  That night he slept and slept and slept.  I'm glad we got a chance to get to the museum but I wish Little Man was feeling better to enjoy it more.  I'm still hoping to take him downtown to see the windows but with all the global warming oops sorry freezing temperature's I'm not sure if it's going to happen this year.  Maybe we'll stay in and decorate more.

Santa

Little man got to meet the Big Fat Man.  The meeting did not go well at all but was very funny.  We were at the Johnson girls cookie exchange and little man was having a great time eating and then playing on the organ with his girl Bayle, when Santa arrived.  It was Santa's first appearance of the season and he was showing off his new Santa belt with his name in the buckle.  Little man took one look at Santa and headed for the other side of the room, he was having nothing to do with him.  Santa walked around took pictures and greeted all the other children but little man still wanted nothing to do with him.  After working the room Santa needed to make his exit and the decision was made that he may scream and cry but Little Man had to get a picture with the Big Man.  Mom was not happy about it but she brought him over and the screams and tears started to flow.  The photos snapped and little man was away from Santa as fast as he could go.  A few minutes later Little Man noticed dad out in the parking lot and started to cry for him, he did not settle down until dad was back in the room holding him.  How funny if he only knew.  Yes years from now we will have another laugh about this day.





Mom feeling bad for handing over Little Man to Santa



Running from Santa



Turkey Day

One of my favorite holidays has become Thanksgiving, nothing like creating an entire day around eating.  The massive amounts of food that is cooked and served at our house has become legendary.  I cooked three turkeys last year and did the same this year.  At 7:30am I started the first turkey on the smoker.  Last year I over smoked the turkey and wanted to redeem myself.  I thought if smoke was not coming out of the smoker I was not cooking it, so I kept shoving more and more wood chips into it.  Not the right way to smoke, the turkey was okay but a heavy smoke flavor.  The second turkey was baked the old fashion traditional way but this year I got a roaster on sale and put it in that to free up the oven.  The third turkey was deep fried.  I deep fried last year for the first time and it was great this year I had problems with the auto timer they put on the deep fryers and had to get a new one.  The auto timer shuts off the gas after 15 minutes unless you press a button to give another 15 minutes but, on a busy Thanksgiving day it's easy to forget about it and then your oil cools down.  I got a new one with a mechanical timer, still a pain.  It also had a stand to lower the turkey in the oil.  I tried the stand but like the bucket from my old frier and eventually put the turkey in that to finish the job.  Three turkeys done then we also had a ham, lasagna, broccoli, mac and cheese, mashed potato's, cranberries, fried squash, butternut squash soup and more that I'm surely forgetting.  We also had about 4 pies for dessert.  Yes and we still have leftovers.  I was happy about the leftovers since I usually would leave home at 4am the day after Thanksgiving to direct football but not this year and I have made up for all the turkey sandwich's I missed.
Little man seems a bit overwhelmed on Thanksgiving with all the activity in the house.  He did good but was tired by the time dinner hit the table and after eating some the trictafan kicked in and he passed out there in his chair.  Of course we did what every good parent would do and shoved a turkey leg in his hand and took a picture.  Now come my real dilemma, we took a great picture of little man just days before thanksgiving and then we took the turkey leg photo.  We are not sure which picture to use for the Jame Jack 2011 calender.  Help us pick one for the month of November, tell me which one is your favorite.  The 2011 Jame Jack calender is going to be great!

Stump

Turkey Leg

Bierstube

Finally a day off!  It seems as of late that all my shoots have been going long, this is good the checks will be nice when they arrive.  I called home the other day and asked Jynx if she was the strange woman sleeping in the bed next to me?  We had a laugh but unfortunately that was true we had not seen each other awake in several days.  Unfortunately for me it was the same with little man, I started to feel like the dad in the cats and the cradle song. 

We decided to head out for dinner and I had thoughts of trying out a polish place in Hammond that I had heard good things about.  After checking it out on line and where we needed to go that night we decided to head to a favorite restaurant of mine that I all to often forget about.  I can not tell you how much I love this restaurant the Bierstube in Peotone.  The food is great and lots of it, the atmosphere is fantastic with all the decorations and the waitresses dressing the part.  The best part is the man on the stage singing great polkas and having fun singing and entertaining. 

We arrived there and got a table right next to the stage and the music was going on but he has no problem interrupting a song to velcome you or to say alvederzane when you leave.  Little man noticed him right away with a quick point and his favorite word these days "Dat". 

We had arrived just in time the place quickly filled up and everyone was greeted from the accordion playing man on the stage.  He even took a bit of a break while we ordered and even told us what was good on the menu.  Of course the best thing on the menu is their Wiener Schnitzel with all different toppings.  Although I got a look at their goulash which looks great as well.

Little man got right into the music and started to rock back and forth with his eyes glued on the funny dressed man.  Then the cow bells came out for Edelweiss and even for me this is amazing how he manages the cowbells ringing them in order when they are spread out all over the table.  This time he even included the bartender by giving her a cue and she would ring her bell.

As the night went on and our massive amounts of food began to arrive Little Man was enjoying the music more and more.  He would cheer at the end of the songs, he also began to clap along with the

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYxc_CxDKBA

music which everyone enjoyed and got a kick out of. 

Little Man came up by me and started to dance a bit but kept pointing to everything saying "Dat! Dat!"  We gave him some money to tip our German singer he put the money in the tip bucket and the let him ring the bells.  He wasn't too sure and was more interested in looking at them then ringing them but Dad helped him out with it. 

It was a great night filled with a lot of great food and fun.  I need to remember to head out there more, I'm sure little man won't mind at all. 

41

I tried to stay busy, I tried not to think about it but my birthday came anyway.  40 was hard for me 30 wasn't bad but 40 really freaked me.  I think a lot of it was that I keep thinking about little man and how old I will be when he reaches a certain age.  For example when he's 10 I'll be reaching 50.  Ouch it hurts just to type that. 
I grew up with younger parents my mom and dad were both barely in their 20's when I was born.  Jynx actually is younger than her mom was when she was born so I think she is handling it all a lot better.  When Jynx and I first got married we talked about having kids and Jynx said she wanted to have her first by the age of 30.  I remember thinking how old that was and wanted to have children sooner.  I was 39 when Jame was born but it did not bother me until my 40th birthday that I started to freak out about my age.  A lot of my friends have children in high school and that are 16 years old.
I've talked with several people who had kids later and they are handling it just fine and Jynx's mom and dad seemed to have handled it just fine as well.  I've also consoled myself by thinking that god won't give us anything we can't handle.  I usually follow up that saying by saying I just wish he didn't trust me as much.  I know there is a reason that god has chosen this path for us and although we may not understand it there is a reason.

Playground Shrine

 "Hey Rog, my kids don't use our swing set anymore do you want it?"  I had no idea how much work was heading my way.  It was a great offer and very kind.  We headed out and took down the swing set, fort, slide and all the accessories packed them into a van and headed home.  I wanted to get the set up quickly before I forgot how to put it back together again.  It actually went back up faster than I thought so we decided to add a few things to it. 

$300.00  REALLY????

We decided to add another fort to match the first one so I took measurement and headed out to Menards to buy the lumber.  I got up early the next morning and started to assemble the floor of the fort it was after I got all the bracing ready that I realized my measurements were off and I would have to start all over again.  Jynx's sister came over to help and we took it apart re cut the boards and started over again.  I attached to fort to the old one and it looked good.  More ideas popped up one being adding a plastic rockwall but after pricing them out at 300 dollars I decided to build a wood climbing wall. 



My climbing wall

 I felt that the project was always just a few hours away from being done but I was mistaken.  I took advantage of the Indian summer we are having and would wake up with the sun head out to continue always hoping I would be done at the end of the day.  At night I would take Advil and rub Ben Gay all over my aching arms.
I was constantly adding things and making up for my mistakes.  I wanted to add an entrance on the second floor for a rope ladder.  I knocked out the panels and cut the 2x4 for the entrance.  I was cutting the last of the four 2x4 when I realized that I had cut the support for the swings.  D'OH!  one more run to Menards to get 4x4's for support.  I also decided to replace the floor on what I know call tower one since it was showing signs of age, yep one more trip to Menards.  Jynx suggested that since we did have nice weather that we should try painting.  Menard here I come again.  I asked at Menards how much paint I needed and it looks like we were one gallon short.  I was so close to finishing the project but the sun would not stay up long enough to get the last gallon of paint on it.

I'm upset that I could not finish but my body and my mind needed a break from the play set.  I spent every waking moment with the play set and I even told Jynx she could bury me in it one day.  I'm very proud of my monument and I think Little Man will have to play in it until he is 40 for me to feel good about the time I have spent building the playground shrine.

Production, Production and Production

I'm thankful for the work but I truly feel like I have been burning the candle at both ends.  I'm still working the Judge shows that are in full blown production and the elections have kept me busy.  I love my work on the Judge show and it's always interesting and the political always has my interest. 

Stedicam connected to the crane and the light balloon

Testing the Crane

The night before the election I was lighting for Willow Creek Church and their Christmas video.  They really do go all out and it was great fun.  The scene was an angel coming down to these kids and then taking off again.  They rented a light balloon to light up the night, they also had a crane and rigging to lift both the actors and camera guys for shots.  It made for a long but fun evening and I have another part of the shoot tomorrow as well.   I left the shoot about midnight and arrived home around two in the morning.

The next day was election day and I popped out of bed earlier than I wanted too but wanted to do my civic duty and vote.  I headed to the polls and had to wait a bit but I got the job done.  Later that day I had to head to the south side of Chicago for election coverage for aljazeera television.  It was for their international so it was in English.  They were talking with people in Obamas neighborhood about the election.  I spent the night shooting with one eye and the other watching the returns.  I also spent every free moment on my twitter account.  I would have not done this had I been home but watching twitter on election night proved very interesting.  I was dragging a bit after the long night before but it went well and I was done earlier than I had anticipated but once again I was heading home around midnight and had an 8 am call for the Judge in the morning.  I got home set my alarm and it told me that I would have 3 hours of sleep.  I really hate that feature on the phone, I know now how little sleep I actually get a night.  I did not go to sleep right away I laid awake watching more results and recaps of what I missed earlier.

With all this I truly have missed time with little man.  Most days he is asleep when I leave and by the time I get home I may see him for a hour before I fall asleep.  Last night he had a bit of crying and I got up with him for a while and then Jynx got up with him so I could try and sleep a bit.  Jynx told me that she has flash card that he like and they were spread all over the room so she decided that he could help pick up.  She asked him to bring her different cards.  he asked for the cow and he brought the cow card she asked for the firetruck and he brought the firetruck.  He truly does understand us we have told him to put certain decorations back and he knows to put it back where he got it from.  I'll pick him up when I get home and say hug and he'll place his head on my shoulder and throw his arm around me and squeeze.  I imagine it won't be long before he's talking and then it won't be long before he learns the dreaded word "NO".  

Trick or Treating is ALIVE!!!

Here it was Saturday at five a.m. and my alarm went off for me to get up and ready for the judge show.  It was an unusual Saturday tape day but it was going to be special.  The show was having a trick or treat day for the kids and I had to take Little Man but it meant getting him up early.  Just after I got dressed Little Man heard me get up and stirred a bit and I used the opportunity to wake him up, he got up with no problem but it was mom who had trouble sleeping that night that had a bit of a problem waking.


Little Man sitting in Daddy's chair at work.



We were both a bit nervous about him spending the day at the NBC Studio where we shoot the show but we wanted to give it a try and thought he might enjoy it.  He was his normal shy little guy at first but then quickly opened up to people and became quite the charmer.  My roommate at the Judge show John brought his 11 year old daughter Kaylee and she had a great time watching and playing with him.  Even Judge Mathis got into the spirit and as he walked down the hallway he would hand out suckers to the kids along the way and talk with them for a moment.  The kids actually started listening to the intercom and would head into the hallway when they heard the Judge is on his way. 



Kaylee and Little Man

Little man had a great time at the studio and made his dad very proud.  I feel very blessed to have such a great little guy.
We took time at the end of the taping day to go into the studio and take some pictures on both the Judge Mathis set and the Judge Pirro set.

Little Man handing out justice "Judge Pirro style"

Little Man Doyle and Kaylee



Judge Jame Jack

The Man of Steel "e"

As if that wasn't enough for the day we still had more planned for Little Man.  We headed to his girlfriends house Bayle for a trick or treat party.  There were a lot of kids at the trick or treat party and Little Man who got a bit of a nap in the car was ready to go and loved seeing all the kids and toys to play with.  The real fun started for dad when we got him into his Superman costume and we headed out to trick or treat.  It was great to see a subdivision keeping this great tradition alive.  I remember as a kid we would dress up for school on Halloween and when school was out we would trick or treat all the way home, drop off our school bags and head out for non stop trick or treating.  Tick or treating has gotten such a bad rap the last few years I though it was gone but I'm a big fan of the tradition.  It is the only holiday where you are encouraged to get out spend some time with your kids and meet your neighbors. 

Little Man at his first door

The neighborhood quickly filled with children in costumes all up and down the streets it was a great sight and brought back such memories.  The neighborhood had some great rules for trick or treating first they had hours, not a bad idea since I remember our doorbell ringing late into the evening as a kid.  The second and I wish they had this when I was a kid if you were handing out candy you left your porch light on.  A great way to skip the houses that did not have candy.  I did have to laugh that the kids went up to a house with a democrat sign in the yard and the lights on but no one was handing out candy.  Sorry, but I just thought it was funny. 

Superman-mobile

Little Man was not to sure of what was going on but he got to ride in his wagon and Bayle quickly jumped into his Superman-Mobile for the ride.  We took turns taking him up to the door and getting the candy and then back to the superman mobile to check out the candy.  After a few blocks the kids got a bit cold and were done with the whole thing so we took them back.  Little Man went right back to playing with the other kids well into the evening.  At the end of the night we placed him in his car seat where he did not even make the end of the block before he was asleep.
It was a great day capped off by a great evening and it does my heart good to know that trick or treating is alive and well.

Pumpkins

After a asking everyone on Facebook about a pumpkin patch we found a nice one in Hobart, IN that was fantastic.  We called Wendy and her daughter and Jame's girlfriend Baley to join us at the pumpkin patch.  Jynx's family went with as well so we took their new motor home or should I say bus.  The pumpkin patch had it all and we tried to fit it all in.  We started out riding in a wagon towed behind a tractor to the corn maze.  I was not to sure how the kids would enjoy this but they had a great time running threw the maze and playing with the corn.

Then it was on to the pumpkin patch where the kids had a great time running from pumpkin to pumpkin playing with them all.  Little man had to try and pick up a lot of them.  I'm not really sure what he was planning on doing with them.  We played in the pumpkin patch and I took about a hundred photos before we had to hurry up pick out pumpkins and jump back on the wagon.

We then headed into the petting zoo that was filled with animals and tractors and things for them to play on.  Little Man got a big kick out of the chickens and as always he loved the cows.  Mom even took time to try and teach him how to feed the goats.

They even had a pumpkin easting monster but it only chomps on the weekends, so we did not get to see him in action.  Little Man and his friend had a great time at the pumpkin patch and we may be heading there every fall to spend a day.

Last night we took some time from our hectic fall schedule and carved a pumpkin with Little Man.  I was not sure how he was going to react to the whole carving but he seemed to enjoy it.  We had gotten some tools at the store that would carve the pumpkin but he could not cut himself although it still freaked me out at times.  He helped mom sort threw the guts and get the pumpkin seeds out.  As we were carving I showed him how to talk into the pumpkin for the echo and he enjoyed trying it as well.  When it was all finished we put one of the new battery flicker flames in it and he loved the little light.  We placed his first carved pumpkin on the back porch.  It was a lot more fun then I had ever thought it would be.  Happy Halloween.

Too Busy

Wow where did the time go?  So much going on and I just did not find the time to write about it.  The Homecoming Bon fire, The Pumpkin Patch and so much more has happened with little man.  Homecoming for adopted children is the day that the adoption is made official.  We were with Little Man on the day he was born but he was not officially ours until October 21st. 
We were in the line at Babies R Us waiting to buy a car seat and stroller, Jynx's girlfriend Wendy had called asking if we wanted to go to Pirogi-fest as we had the year before.  We told her that we had hoped not to go and told her the story and that we were going to be in Florida for the birth of our son.  Wendy was very excited and came right over, she convinced us that we needed to buy a car seat to bring the little guy home in.  We had an adoption before that had failed and we were trying not to get too excited but we thought if it did not work out we could simply put the seat in the garage.  My phone rang as we stood in line to buy the seat and we were on our way.  We raced home packed up my Jeep and went to drop the dogs off when my phone rang again with a text message.  The message was a picture of Little Man.

I drove threw the night and into the next day only stopping for gas and coffee along the way.  We arrived at the hospital met the birth mom and she took us over to meet little guy for the first time.  The birth mom walked away to give us time with him and the nurses came running asking where she had gone and what happening.  I pointed to our lawyer and she explained the entire thing.  After that the nurses were very nice to us but we did spend the next two days in a conference room with the Little Guy.  

We then had to spend 2 weeks in Florida waiting for Judges from both Indiana and Florida to approve the adoption.  I felt like a fugitive hiding from the law.  We were lucky to be able to stay at Jynx's cousins house for the time.  At the end of the two weeks our lawyer simply sent us a text message saying we could leave the state.  

Even after all of this he still was not officially ours.  Since we were out of state we had to be on the phone with a judge in Florida and a Notary Public had to be with us.  Luckily the couple that lived across the street from me who I consider to be family she was a Notary and was honored to do it for us.  We consider them to be Grandparents to Little Man.  We gathered at their house and got on the phone with the judge, he verified who we were and asked us a few questions.  The Judge asked if we stood to profit from adopting this child?  He asked if the child owned any property?  Then he signed the paperwork and congratulated us.  We hung up the phone and the tears started.  October 21, 2009 the day Little Man was not only in our hearts but he was now legally ours.  Even today as I write this I still get chills.  One day I need to write a book on the entire experience.



The day he became ours.

It was hard to believe the night of the bon fire that it had been a year since all that happened.  We rented a bounce house one of his favorite things for the night.  I took him to the store earlier in the day and filled he cart with ball to put in the bounce house.  As I walked with him sitting in the cart and the cart filled with balls everyone commented on what a lucky boy he is.  He may not of known what was going on but it made me feel good about my dad status.  He had a great time in the bounce house and all the balls inside.  The night was a great night for a fire and little man had fun with all the other kids who showed up.  My only regret from the night was we made him a cake to tear into and time got away and he did not get the cake that night.  He did have plenty to eat and finally fell asleep in his wagon.  Happy Homecoming day Little Man.



Loving the Bounce House



Tyler's Tender

When I was a kid we used to go to a dentist that was a bit of a drive from our house.  The two big things I remember about these dentist visits were he had a treasure chest filled with little trinkets and after you got done with him he allowed you to take a trinket, it was usually something you would get out of a Cracker Jack box when they actually had toys in them.  The other great thing about going to the dentist was we went to the train restaurant afterwards.  the great thing about the train restaurant is that after you ordered your food would come out on a train and stop right in front of you and the waitress would walk over and take your food of for you.  If you completed your meal you then got a visit from sucker train and were allowed to have one.  Needless to say I had no problem getting a visit from the sucker train and my brother, well he usually would cry and pout until they would let him have a sucker.  Over the years I have thought about the train restaurant and it's location but just assumed it had closed years ago.

One day while driving I noticed what looked like a crossing signal outside a strip mall close to our home.  I did some investigating and sure enough it was a train restaurant called Tyler's Tender.  Obviously this was not the same place from my childhood, but it had a counter where the train brought your food.  I had to take Little Man.  We set up a day and met my mom there for lunch and it was fantastic even better than my train restaurant.  Tyler's had a place where you could control trains and some of the other features, they had a bigger train that Little man and I rode on and they had an arcade.  Luckily he still just want to push the buttons and doesn't care about the quarters yet.  We sat down at the counter and watched as you would hear the clanking of a signal gate and the food train would roll out of the kitchen to it's waiting customers.  Little man sat there and watched the train roll by with what had to be the same look of wonder I must of had on my face.  It was a great feeling to see him like that.  I also asked my mom about my train restaurant and she said it was in Beverly and it was called Snackville Junction which I looked up and yes it did close but looks to have reopened again in Beverly but in a different location.  I don't think little man will have to go to the dentist to get a trip to the train restaurant but Tyler's Tender is a place we will be visiting again and again.  One day Little Man will take his kids and remember when his dad took him to the train restaurant.

Frightning Weekend

What a great weekend we all had.  Friday we went to Fright Fest at Great America it's an event that is private but we get ticket though friends of ours.  It's usually a great time since the line to the rides are extremely short.  In years past I've done so many roller coasters that I've felt a bit nauseous and had to take a moment.  This almost never happens since I'm a bit of a roller coaster junkie.  My biggest problem is that I yell and laugh so hard I sometimes get a bit of a headache.  I had to work on Friday but was planning on getting done early and sure enough the Judge started to run through he cases and I was going to make it in plenty of time.

I met Jynx, Little Man and Wendy Bailey and the rest of the Johnson clan at Gurnee Mills but we quickly left to head over to the park.  We got to the parking lot and started unpacking our new reality of having to bring a ton of stuff along with little man.  We brought his wagon that I had spent the night before fixing since I had put the wheels on the wrong side.  Baily noticed the wagon and quickly wanted to ride in that instead of the stroller.  The two of them had a great time in the wagon trading sippy cups back and forth.

We found only one of the kids worlds open that night unfortunately it was the Wiggles World, I would have rather the Looney Tunes one was open.  Little man had fun in the planes and driving the cars but his favorite was the slides.  Little Man has no fear and was climbing the rope ladder to get up to the big slide then he would jump down the tube flipping all around down the slide scaring us to death but then laughing and running to do it again.  At one point we stopped him from the big slide but he ran to the little slide and started to run down it I caught him only in time to slow down his fall.  We held him for a few minutes after that just to calm him down a bit. 

We finally left Wiggles World and headed to the food court.  We found a table and I stayed with Wendy and the kids as Jynx went to get food.  Jame kept leaning over in the wagon towards Bailey and he kept pushing him back until Wendy told her that Jame was only trying to give her a kiss.  Once again Jame leaned in and Bailey gave him the kiss he had been seeking.  Wendy and I went back to talking when I noticed the two were back in a lip lock and not letting up.  As any proud father would do I just started to laugh and Wendy after a quick laugh yelled "Okay that's enough!" and then hit me for laughing too much.  I deserved it. 

Later that night the group headed to the Wizard and little man was fading fast.  I told Jynx to go ahead and I would pass since he was so close to sleeping.  Jynx headed to the Wizard and a show was just starting by the old railroad station.  What ever happened to the train at Great America?  I loved the train.  Little man loved the show he sat there and watched as they sang monster songs dressed like zombies.  He eventually gave in near the end of the show and we placed him in the wagon.  Wendy and her sisters took him as we headed for only my second roller coaster of the night the classic Demon.  We ran straight though all the way to the front car.  I remember waiting a couple of hours to get on this ride, I had been through every part of this maze that I now bypassed.  We sat in the front row and the Demon was as great as it always has been.  The light in the tunnel is my favorite part.  Shortly after we got off the Demon the rain started and we headed for the exit.  It was a great night and one I have always dreamed of.  It was not a great roller coaster night but just being able to spend the night with Little Man is better then any roller coaster.

Giddy Up!

One question everyone asks is how are the dogs handling the little guy.  Goofy does get a bit jealous when I come home and say hello to little man before her but all she does is bark.  Outside of that the dogs just kept away from him and would just move away when he would come by.  Since little man has started to feed himself the dogs have discovered that he is a food source.  We will hear him laughing as he drops food from his high chair down to the dogs for some reason he finds this hysterical.  Jynx even has little man giving them their treats when they come in, funny they actually take the treats nicely from him but still snatch it out of our hands, funny how they know to be gentle with him.  He has also taken to petting them gently something Jynx worked with him to do.  Last night after I arrived home little man came running up to my Jeep gave me a big hug and then wanted into the Jeep.  He know thinks the Jeep is his play toy that I'm allowed to drive to work.  He played in it for a few minutes and cried when I took him out.  After getting little man into the house ending the crying we looked over to discover him sitting on top of Goofy as she ate her food.  For several minutes this continued and we heard nothing from Goofy and she was only annoyed with the fact that we kept trying to get her to look up for a picture. 

Shopping Carts

Placing little man in any shopping cart has become quite a project at times.  We start with a brief struggle with him to get his feet through the proper holes.  He doesn't really like to sit he usually wants to stand.  After getting him settled in he almost immediately starts to turn one way and then another and gets loose from the safety strap until he is either facing the other direction or has his legs stretched out on the seat.  We tend to give up on making him face the proper direction ignoring all the safety warnings on the shopping cart.
The other night at Menard's as we headed to the check out he had about all he could handle of sitting in the cart.  He stood up and leaned right into my arms giving me no choice but to remove him from the cart.  As Jynx finished up with the cashier I let him walk around a bit and he wound up right behind the shopping cart.  Little man grabbed hold of the shopping cart with a firm grip and with a short grunt the shopping cart filled with rakes and shovels and other items was on the move out the door.  We both had a good laugh as he pushed the cart out the door and towards the car with a bit of guidance from mom and dad.
Our next stop was at the grocery store where he was able to get his favorite race car shopping cart.  The store only has two of these carts so they are hard to get.  If we get to the store and they are not available Little man keeps an eye out for the car cart.  When he spots the kids who have the car he gives them  the evil eye and watches them the entire way.  The days that we are lucky enough to get it he has a great time laughing and playing the entire time, he makes sure that everyone knows he has his cart.  I wish the store had more of these carts and I also wish the were big enough for me to get in.  Although I have thought about using the motorized cart but the people who drive those scare me.  I make sure to give them a lot room when they come down the aisle.  I'm glad little man likes the store because between the motorized and the creepy stock boy that always want to talk to me it's a very traumatic experience for me.